Art Drysdale

For the past four decades he has been writing, and presenting radio and television broadcasts, with practical garden hints on stations such as CFRB, AM740 and CFCA. He also presented all of Canada’s Weather Network gardening vignettes, hourly from April to October annually for a decade; as well as being the spokesman for The Garden Claw across the country. A life–long resident of Toronto and a horticulturist well–known all across Canada, Drysdale is now a resident of Parksville, British Columbia on Vancouver Island, just north of Nanaimo. He has renovated an old home and has a new garden there.

His radio gardening vignettes are heard in south–western Ontario over two radio stations : Easy 101 FM out of Tillsonburg at 2 PM weekdays, and CD98.9 FM out of Norfolk County at 11:40 AM weekdays.

As a speaker, Drysdale has addressed amateur and professional groups all across Canada, as well as in the U.S., England, Holland, Switzerland, Australia, South Africa, and aboard cruise ships.

Drysdale graduated from East York Collegiate in 1957, with the Ontario Secondary School Honour Graduation Diploma. He was active and held several executive positions in the East York Garden Club, 1955–69. He attended The Niagara Parks Commission School of Gardening ( now NPC Botanical Garden and School of Horticulture ), 1958–61, where he won all five awards presented at the graduation. He initiated/edited the school’s first yearbook.

From graduation in March 1961 until August 1962, Drysdale worked with the Shur–Gain Division of Canada Packers where he developed new consumer fertilizer products ( Feed ‘n Weedaway, for example ), wrote various consumer literature, and consulted with consumers and the turf industry. He was then employed with Sheridan Nurseries Limited, 1962–69, Drysdale was Chief Horticulturist and Advertising Manager, with full responsibility for their catalogues and botanical nomenclature. In December 1963, Drysdale began writing a feature column for a new magazine, Canadian Nurseryman, and continued to do so until March 1969. He was also a member of the founding committee. In 1964, he was appointed part–time Executive Director and Editor with the Canadian Parks/Recreation Association ( CP/RA ), with the office in his home. In 1969–70, he was employed full–time as CP/RA Executive Director, and Editor of Recreation Canada. He set up CP/RA's first permanent office in Ottawa in early 1971. From 1971–1978, he free–lanced as a horticultural writer and published/edited Recreation Canada. In 1973, he was appointed Regional Director ( Canada ) of the Garden Writers Association of America ( GWAA ). During 1979–81 period he served as President of the Garden Writers Association, the first–ever Canadian to hold the office representing over 1,000 members, mostly in the U.S.A.

In March 1975, Dent Canada published his book Gardening Off The Ground that he wrote on the invitation of the publisher. It was the first Canadian book for balcony gardeners. In July 1996, he self–published a completely revised and enlarged version, including his own colour photos.